DEALBOOK; Baseball Hall of Famer Settles Insider Trading Case

By PETER LATTMAN

Published: August 18, 2012

On the standout Baltimore Orioles baseball teams of the late 1970s, Eddie Murray, the Hall of Fame first baseman, shared the infield with the all-star third baseman Doug DeCinces.Federal regulators say that decades later, the two close friends shared something else: illegal stock tips.

Mr. Murray was charged on Friday by the Securities and Exchange Commission with insider trading ahead of a merger announcement after receiving advanced word of the deal from Mr. DeCinces.

The S.E.C. said that Mr. DeCinces had received the tip from James V. Mazzo, the former chairman and chief executive of Advanced Medical Optics, an eye care company that Abbott Laboratories acquired for nearly $3 billion in 2009.

Mr. Murray, 56, made about $235,000 in illegal gains by buying shares of Advanced Medical Optics ahead of the deal and then selling his stake after it was announced, the S.E.C. said. Without admitting or denying guilt, Mr. Murray agreed to settle the case by paying $358,000 in disgorged profits and penalties.

"It is truly disappointing when role models, particularly those who have achieved so much in their professional careers, give in to the temptation of easy money," said Daniel M. Hawke, a senior S.E.C. enforcement lawyer.

Michael J. Proctor, a lawyer for Mr. Murray, said that his client "is an honorable and ethical man who is settling this to put the matter to rest and move on with life."

The charges against Mr. Murray come a day after federal regulators charged another sports figure, the former University of Georgia football coach Jim Donnan, with running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded fellow coaches and his former players.

The latest cases add to the spate of lawsuits brought by the commission against athletes. Last December, the former Chicago Bears receiver Willie Gault was accused of artificially inflating the stock of a company he helped run. He has denied the claim.

The charges on Friday also add to the increasing number of insider trading cases brought over the last several years. Both the Justice Department and the commission have made rooting out illegal trading a priority. They have brought more than 100 cases against individuals since the financial crisis.

Mr. Mazzo, 55, ranks among the most prominent corporate managers charged with insider trading. Unlike Mr. Murray, Mr. Mazzo is fighting the charges. His stock tip allowed Mr. Murray, Mr. DeCinces and others to earn about $2.4 million in profits, the S.E.C. said.

"He flatly and unequivocally denies the S.E.C.'s allegations," said Richard Marmaro, a lawyer for Mr. Mazzo. "Mr. Mazzo has a spotless reputation for professionalism, integrity and service to his community, built up over a career of 30 years. The notion that he would put all that at risk to give a single friend inside information is absurd."

Earlier this year, Mr. Mazzo announced that he would retire at the end of 2012 from Abbott, where he serves as a senior executive in the company's eye care unit. An Abbott spokesman said the charges were a personal matter for Mr. Mazzo and that he would remain an employee of the company until year-end.

The S.E.C.'s complaint details repeated contact and communication between Mr. Mazzo and Mr. DeCinces around the time of merger discussions between Advanced Medical Optics and Abbott. In one instance, just days before the merger announcement, the two were golfing at the same country club in Orange County, Calif., and there are records of two calls from Mr. DeCinces's mobile phone to Mr. Murray's.

The accusations against Mr. Murray and Mr. Mazzo represent the second round of charges related to the Advanced Medical Optics-Abbott combination. The commission brought its initial charges last year against Mr. DeCinces and three others. Mr. DeCinces, like his former teammate, also paid a large fine to settle the case against him.

Mr. Murray is one of only four Major League Baseball players to finish his career with at least 500 homers and 3,000 hits. Last Saturday, the Orioles unveiled a bronze sculpture of Mr. Murray at Camden Yards, the Baltimore stadium where the team plays.

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.

PHOTO: Eddie Murray of Baltimore and Tim Foli, left, of Pittsburgh during a World Series game in 1979. (PHOTOGRAPH BY ASSOCIATED PRESS)